Sensex, Nifty rangebound; Coal India falls 2%

NEW DELHI: Frontline indices Sensex and Nifty registered a positive opening on Wednesday in the backdrop of firm global cues after US stocks registered a fresh record closing and Japan's Nikkei inched up.

However, the gains for the benchmarks proved to be short-lived and market slipped into negative territory after a fresh spell of selling emerged in select bank, IT and metal counters.

Around 9:20 am, the BSE Sensex was 10 points up at 38,906, while Nifty was trading at 11,725.60, down by 13 points.


The S&P500 and the Nasdaq closed at fresh record highs on Tuesday, but the gains were modest, offering no major trigger. Wall Street offered little in the way of direction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index ended Tuesday up a bare 0.06 per cent, while the S&P500 index gained 0.03 per cent and the Nasdaq 0.15 per cent, Reuters reported.

While rupee's gain of Monday's session faded away, an uptick in global crude oil price on US sanctions on Iran too influenced the sentiment.

Oil markets were stable on Wednesday, buoyed by falling supplies from Iran ahead of US sanctions but held in check by rising production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $75.98 per barrel at 0102 GMT, up 3 cents from their last close.

Infosys, YES Bank, TCS, Coal India and HDFC Bank weighed on the Sensex index.

Shares of Coal India fell nearly 2 per cent, leading among the Sensex losers. Vedanta, Adani Ports and Sun Pharma were among top Sensex gainers.

IT, FMCG, Tech and consumer durables were the sectors on BSE that were in the red.